Saturday, September 18, 2010

Rooftop Patio - What!

Here, in it's own special posting, is the final part of the trio of awesomeness in the Toronto apartment (the other two things being the brick wall and the walk-in closet): the rooftop patio. This is accessed through a skylight in the walk-in closet, and it's private to this apartment. It's also the only one on the street, so there's no chance of encountering any random neighbours while chilling out.

This is a view looking up through the skylight.

This is a view of the patio from the skylight entrance, rather like a dock built on top of a roof. Moonlights that can be plugged in are on each corner, though I need to replace the bulb and little lamp cover for the one in the farthest corner of this photo. A red oak that grows at the back of the house reaches up over the roof, and the patio is nestled into the branches a bit.

This is a view of the patio from the far corner, towards the skylight. The little gangway to the square area is a nice touch.

Below is the view looking west towards downtown. You can see the office towers in the distance. The CN tower is hidden by some trees and is a bit to the south.

I need to get some folding chairs and some folding tables for up there. I think too that I'll get some tarp to lash the tables and chairs down for the winter. I thought about one of those patio boxes, but I'm not at all sure that one would fit through the skylight. I'm also thinking of rigging up a pulley system for a drink and snack bucket. My gran's gardening bucket might work nicely for drinks. I think something could be worked out - here's the view down. There is a shelf at the side that could be exploited for resting snacks on mid-way up to the patio.

Sadly, we missed prime patio season by just moving in now, but September and even October have some nice patio days - days with strong autumn sun and a light breeze. In Europe, the cafes would have their patios open, and a thick blanket would be folded over the back of every chair, so that people stopping to have a drink who wanted to enjoy the air could keep their legs warm. I definitely think we should institute that here, and I'm going to start by making it happen on our patio. We need to make the most of the not-freezing-cold weather!